Mako Guide
The M35 Mako is your IFV, mobile turret, emergency cover, and all-round best friend when exploring hostile areas, plus it has plenty of assets to exploit. It can travel over almost any terrain, no matter how steep or rough. Note that while the Mako is a match for almost every enemy in the game, you only get half the XP from enemies killed in the Mako on Normal and 40% XP on Hardcore and Insanity combat difficulty, making it much harder to reach level 50 or 60. See the Experience Guide for more. Controls PC * Left click mouse to fire machine gun * Right click mouse to fire the mass accelerator cannon ** Left "Shift" button to zoom view. Keep hitting it to cycle through * Spacebar to jump jet * "Q" to disembark * "F" to Repair Xbox360 * Right trigger to fire the machine gun * Right shoulder button to fire the mass accelerator cannon ** Hold left trigger to zoom in ** Once zoomed in, click right stick to zoom in further. Clicking the right stick again will zoom in even further. ** The third click or releasing the left trigger will return to normal view * A button to jump jet * B button to disembark * Y button to repair Playstation 3 * Press R1 to fire the mass accelerator cannon. * Press R2 to fire the machine gun. * Hold L2 to zoom in. ** Once zoomed in, click R3 (right stick) to zoom in further. Click R3 again to zoom in even further. ** A third click or releasing L2 will return the view to normal. * Cross button to jump. * Circle button to disembark. * Triangle button to Repair. * Square button to return to the Normandy. Driving the Mako The side-to-side driver controls on the Mako are very sensitive, at least in the PC version. This is because pressing the turn button makes the vehicle go forward as well as turn, attempting to make a circle about the side of the vehicle, rather than turning the vehicle itself about its center axis. Suddenly pressing the button can overcompensate, especially on mountainous terrain. This can have consequences that appear to be comedically dramatic, although usually harmless. One solution to this problem is to keep pushing the "forward" or "back" button and tap the "left" or "right" button repeatedly as needed. If you have a lot of space, it makes the turning effect relatively small compared to the forward movement. You will always return to the same drop off point on a planet, even if you recall to the Normandy. Additionally if you drive far outside the map, or what Joker calls the operational area (i.e. into the red zone outside of the square map), Joker will eventually recall the Mako back to the initial landing zone. You can use these as time-saving shortcuts to move about the planet if you are far away from points of interest. Assets Machine gun The Mako's secondary weapon is a machine gun that handles like a massive assault rifle. While not as powerful as the cannon, the machine gun allows for a lot more precision. It is much better against smaller or individual enemies since it will knock them over rather than blowing them away, which is especially useful if the player does not wish to kill enemy infantry with the Mako. The machine gun's other major advantage is against your opponent's shields. The cannon can take out two shield levels (depending on the difficulty) at once but then takes time to recharge, whereas the machine gun's small projectiles will shred them very quickly. The disadvantage of using the machine gun is that it overheats with prolonged firing, but careful handling and alternating the machine gun with the cannon should take care of this. Cannon The primary weapon and the Mako's heavy artillery, the mass accelerator cannon is extremely powerful and will make a mess of anything it hits. The damage it inflicts also partially bypasses shields. If fired into an enclosed space full of smaller enemies, the cannon will clear the room very effectively. On lower difficulty settings, it will instantly vaporize large groups of smaller enemies in one hit; yet on all difficulties, against larger enemies like Geth Armatures or Geth Colossi, or against stationary targets like turrets, there's nothing to compare with it. The cannon takes several seconds to recharge after each shot, so plan to dodge or use the machine gun in the interim; the cannon and the machine gun can be used in any order against the same target for maximum damage. The cannon can be especially effective for removing dangerous snipers and other troops from the "observation towers" around the edges of enemy bases. For maximum effect you will want to "double zoom" your aim, and you will be able to take them one out with precision on every shot. The double zoom is easy and intuitive to accomplish on PC but easy to miss on Xbox and PS3 because it requires clicking the right stick after holding the left trigger. Learn how to do this and you'll easily crack those pirate/merc/geth bases on unexplored planets - you can often arrange to inch around from behind an obstruction eliminating one sniper at a time rather than facing a full onslaught of Assassination. Propulsion jets These are useful as well as fun. The propulsion jets enable the Mako to jump, making it easier to negotiate rough terrain. In combat they can be a lifesaver against well-armed geth and turrets. An Armature's Siege Pulse or a Geth Juggernaut's rocket moves slowly enough for the Mako to lift over it harmlessly - and you can keep firing the machine gun at the same time. Timing the jumps correctly means you can take out an Armature while dodging everything it throws at you. More importantly, using the propulsion jets messes up enemy targeting. As noted above, enemies will often aim at where you were rather than where you are, and careful use of the jets can ensure their missiles go wide. A good technique is to take cover behind wreckage, use the "jump jets" to pop up, fire on a target and fall back down behind cover. In addition, when fighting a Geth Colossus or armature (or with some care even a thresher maw), the jump can be timed so that the player may fire their cannon, jump over the siege blast of the opponent, and land roughly by the time that the cannon has recharged for another shot. Shields The Mako can take a lot of punishment, even on higher difficulty levels, but once the shields are down it can take them a long time to recharge. A high Electronics stat will help, but it's still a good idea to give the shields time to recover between tough battles. Though the Mako's hull is sturdy even when unshielded, on higher difficulty levels your enemies can inflict heavy damage very quickly; once the hull is gone while Shepard and the squad are inside, it's game over. Note that the Mako shields can also take damage when ramming into large enemies such the Geth Armature. Repairing the Mako's hull with omni-gel is again made easier by a high Electronics stat; not only does it restore more hull per repair, it reduces cooldown time between repairs if the Mako is heavily damaged. Unfortunately, while repairs are in progress, the Mako is stationary and unable to fire. If it is heavily damaged and there are still enemies around, get some distance between them first and stay out of their line of sight while repairs are ongoing. Retreating out of combat, saving and loading the save will instantly fully recharge the Mako's shields. Also, disembarking from the Mako once you're a moderate distance away will contract the alert range of enemies and allow you to end combat without having to drive as far away. Cover Though fighting in the Mako results in a smaller XP reward, a good compromise is to soften tougher enemies up with the Mako's armaments, then disembark and use the tank as cover to finish them off. Quite often the enemies will focus their fire on the Mako, allowing you to take them on while they're distracted. This works nicely against Thresher Maws (unless you park too close) and Geth Colossi. * The Mako can take heavy damage when being used as "portable cover". Although it can only be destroyed if you're inside it, once it starts "sparking" that means it is so heavily damaged that it has no hull points left and you could be instantly killed if you reentered it. In this situation you must either avoid reentering the Mako until ALL nearby enemies have been eliminated or, on an unexplored planet mission, you can return directly to the Normandy from the Map portion of the game menu. * The Mako takes damage from your own shots and attacks as well as the ones from your squad members, so watch your aim and move your squad members in order to have a clear line of fire. * The Mako is also environmentally sealed against EVA hazards. Re-entering the Mako while fighting on foot will quickly reset the hazard timer. * Re-entering the Mako will also revive, for free, any downed squad members. Tactics Ramming On Hardcore and Insanity levels, ramming damage is severely reduced. Even though enemies are still disabled, at short range it is difficult to aim down at them for the final blow. Therefore ramming is not nearly as useful on the highest levels of play. At lower difficulty levels, ramming is one of the simplest and quickest ways to disable opponents that are isolated, or in small groups. Smaller enemies are crushed for heavy physical damage. Larger enemies like the Geth Armature and Geth Colossi are knocked down and disabled. Finally, if Shepard disembarks after a ram they can effectively fight on foot, as the Mako easily closes the gap to short range combat. A "Drag and Drop" can effectively disable a medium-sized enemy such as an Armature which is defending other foes. This maneuver involves ramming the target and dragging them away from their allies, then backing up and shooting them if they survive the impact. This works well on the skyways of Feros, where there is sufficient distance to isolate targets. With terrain hazards, the Mako can also carefully push an the enemy into molten lava or over a bridge or cliff for an instant kill. It is possible to park the Mako on top of a medium-sized target such as an Armature, trapping it and letting the squad disembark to engage it with impunity. However, check before you disembark and be careful: do not attempt to park on larger enemies such as Colossi, as these titans will only be temporarily disabled, and will be able to throw the Mako off; additionally if smaller enemies are trapped under the Mako they may still be able to damage it. Firing on the Move Movement can be used to evade enemy fire. If you move directly toward or away from your target, the opponent has to aim less, and you risk being hit more. However, if you move from one side to the other the opponent has to turn and you can be very difficult to hit, as long as you keep moving. AI does not predict your position and tends to fire at where you were, not where you will be as the shot arrives. Another advantage of going side-to-side is that you can get away from the scene if you are hit, make repairs at some sheltered or distant spot and come back. Thresher Maws and targets in unfavorable terrain require this evasive action, so you will be firing on the move. This will usually require snapshots or tracking shots. With a little practice, you can learn to pre-aim a snapshot: place your sight slightly to one side of the target as you move and then fire just as your sight crosses the target, hitting it reliably. That's what fighter pilots do. It is much more difficult to keep a tracking shot, which involves holding the reticule constantly and consistently on the target and firing. Dodging Against slow moving projectiles, such as Armature pulses, rockets (from turrets or troopers), and acid spit, it is only necessary to move in order to avoid shots. There is a horizontal dodge, known as rocking back and forth, and a vertical dodge, known as jumping. The rocking technique is preferred against multiple enemies such as the geth as it's easier to avoid multiple projectiles, but the jump technique is best for avoiding acid splash damage. ;Rocking back and forth Begin by turning your Mako perpendicular to your target. In this case you now inch forward and back. This technique combines advantage of the defensive benefits of staying on the move with the easier aiming job of staying in one location. Note that missiles and other projectiles from enemies are always aimed at the front of the Mako at the time they are launched. So if after aiming and firing you pull back just a tad, any rockets launched at you in the meantime will miss even if you don't move much. ;Jumping and Thresher Maws Jumping is the vertical version of rocking back and forth: you stay in one position but use the Mako's jets to "jump" in the air avoiding the incoming projectiles. It makes a good "emergency escape button" as it makes a quick shift in position. For fighting Thresher Maws the jumping technique is much more responsive, and avoids most or all of the splash damage from the acid blob. Because of the quick response time it is actually quite forgiving against a single enemy – you will only take damage while if you get absolutely bullseyed in the moment you are on the ground. Against a Thresher Maw the jumping technique also prevents the Maw from diving back underground and changing position, since you're staying above the same piece of ground. You can stop as soon as the Thresher Maw appears and start shooting it immediately. As soon as the acid spittle appears, hit the jump button to avoid it. Using terrain The Mako can defeat numerous enemies safely by using the terrain as cover. You can poke the turret in and out of cover such as a cliff or building, and pull back as a projectile approaches much like the dodging techniques. Alternatively, there is a technique that tank soldiers call hull down. Find a small depression in the terrain or a small, gradual rise in it. Hide from your enemies there. Move forward slightly to "peek" over the top. Fire your cannon and go backwards slightly to a position of safety. Repeat as needed. If you happen to get hit, you can stay down and let your shields recover. This may not be as much fun as running and gunning, but it requires less active effort and can be more reliable. It is also easy to disembark while in the dip in order to gain extra XP. Remember to hide the nose of the Mako. However, it has disadvantages too: the Mako has poor gun angles and sometimes can't aim up or down at the target. Additionally, favorable terrain isn't always available. Notably this technique cannot be used in Thresher Maw nests, as they are flat, and if Shepard leaves the flat area to go hull down they will go back underground. Enemies will always aim for the front of the Mako, especially rockets. Use that at your advantage and peek backward from cover so the rockets will hit the walls since it's aiming at your nose that is still hidden. Glitches and Bugs * On Therum, it is possible to take the Mako through the narrow gap in between the two rocks leading to mine shaft where you find Liara. Drive in to the gap, then from inside the gap drive up the left rock until you are completely on your side, wedged between both rocks. Slowly inch forward and use boosts to slide through the gap. The geth will not attack the Mako, and they die after only a couple of cannon shots. Do not try to boost up the walkway in the Mako, since this causes the Mako to disappear and you can not get out. Also saving and loading doesn't fix this; the only option is to load your last save since you can not return to the Normandy, and you can't Save/Load to fix it. * It's possible to repair the Mako shields and hull damage by saving and then loading your game. Sometimes, you need to save/load twice. So save/load to restore shields then do it again for hull repairs. * When entering the Mako during combat, sometimes the Mako will rocket in the air erratically while acting as if it is colliding into random objects, while slowly taking damage every time it touches the ground, and you cannot control it anymore. There is generally no way to stop the Mako after this occurs except for returning to the Normandy or saving (where you will drop straight down upon reloading). It is unknown what sort of attacks causes this to occur. * It is also possible to turn the Mako upside down, after which you will be unable to move it or exit it. This can be done while attempting to climb objects. In both versions, the Mako can be righted again by firing your jets once the vehicle is completely stationary. * Sometimes, under extremely rare circumstances, a Thresher Maw can flip the Mako upside down by bursting out of the ground next to the vehicle without destroying it in the process; however, this is a death sentence since the Thresher Maw will almost certainly attack the vehicle again and finish the job before the player can react. This may also have the effect of flinging the Mako across the landscape away from the Thresher Maw. Category:Vehicles Category:Guides